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 The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress  
Order of the President of the People’s Republic of China  
No.57  
“Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Concerning the Suppression of the Falsification, Counterfeiting, 
and Illegal Sale of Value-added Tax Invoices” is adopted at the 16th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People’s 
Congress on October 30, 1995, and is promulgated now. This law enter into force as of its promulgation.  
President of the People’s Republic of China:Jiang Zemin 
October 30, 1995  
Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Concerning the Suppression of the Falsification, Counterfeiting, 
and Illegal Sale of Value-added Tax Invoices  
To suppress the crimes of falsification, counterfeiting, and illegal sale of value-added tax invoices and other invoices for the purpose 
of tax evasion or fraud, and to ensure state tax collection, it is hereby decided that: 
1.  
Anyone who has falsified value-added tax invoices shall be sentenced to imprisonment for up to three years or criminal detention and 
be furthermore subject to a fine from 20,000 to 200,000 yuan. If the amount involved in the falsification of the invoices is relatively 
large or accompanies other serious offences, the offender shall be sentenced to imprisonment for three to ten years and be furthermore 
subject to a fine from 50,000 to 500,000 yuan. If the amount involved in the falsification of the invoices is exceptionally large 
or accompanies other especially serious offences, the offender shall be subject to imprisonment from ten years to life and his property 
shall be confiscated. 
If the amount involved in the tax evasion is exceptionally huge, other offences committed are extraordinarily serious, and the state 
has therefore suffered especially great losses, the offender shall be subject to life imprisonment or death and his property shall 
be confiscated. 
The chief of a criminal group engaged in falsifying value-added tax invoices shall be heavily punished according to the respective 
provisions in the two preceding paragraphs. 
“Falsification of a value-added tax invoice” refers to any action involving falsely filling out a value-added tax invoice for oneself 
or for any other person, allowing any other person to falsely fill out a value-added tax invoice, or introducing any other person 
to the action of falsely filling out a value-added tax invoice. 
2.  
Anyone who has counterfeited or sold counterfeited value-added tax invoices shall be sentenced to imprisonment for up to three years 
or criminal detention and be furthermore subject to a fine from 20,000 to 200,000 yuan. If the amount involved is relatively large 
or accompanies other serious offences, the offender shall be sentenced to imprisonment for three to ten years and be furthermore 
subject to a fine from 50,000 to 500,000 yuan. If the amount involved is exceptionally large or accompanies other especially serious 
offences, the offender shall be subject to imprisonment from ten years to life and his property shall be confiscated. 
If the amount involved in the counterfeiting or sale of value-added tax invoices is exceptionally huge or accompanies other extraordinarily 
serious offences, resulting in a serious disruption of the economic order, the offender shall be subject to life imprisonment or 
death and his property shall be confiscated. 
The chief of a criminal group engaged in the counterfeiting or sale of value-added tax invoices shall be heavily punished according 
to respective provisions in the two preceding paragraphs. 
3.  
Anyone who has illegally sold value-added tax invoices shall be subject to imprisonment for up to three years or criminal detention 
and be furthermore subject to a fine from 20,000 to 200,000 yuan. If the amount involved is relatively large, the offender shall 
be sentenced to imprisonment for three to ten years and be furthermore subject to a fine from 50,000 to 500,000 yuan. If the amount 
involved is exceptionally large, the offender shall be subject to imprisonment from 10 years to life and his property shall be confiscated. 
4.  
Anyone who has illegally purchased authentic or counterfeit value-added tax invoices shall be sentenced to imprisonment for up to 
five years or criminal detention, and/or be subject to a fine from 20,000 to 200,000 yuan. 
Anyone who, in addition to purchasing authentic or counterfeit value-added tax invoices, also falsely fills out or sells such invoices, 
shall be punished in accordance with the respective provisions in Article 1 , Article 2  or Article 3  of this Decision. 
5.  
Anyone who has falsely filled out other kinds of invoices for the purpose of obtaining fraudulent tax refunds on exported items or 
tax deductions shall be punished in accordance with the provisions in Article 1  of this Decision. 
“Falsely filling out other kinds of invoices for the purpose of obtaining fraudulent tax refunds on exported items or tax deductions” 
refers to any action involving falsely filling out other kinds of invoices for oneself or for any other person, allowing any other 
person to falsely fill out other kinds of invoices, or introducing any other person to the action of falsely filling out other kinds 
of invoices with the intention of obtaining fraudulent tax refunds on exported items or tax deductions. 
6.  
Anyone who, for the purpose of obtaining fraudulent tax refunds on exported items or tax deductions, counterfeits or makes without 
authorization other kinds of invoices, or sells invoices such counterfeited or made without authorization shall be sentenced to imprisonment 
for up to three years or criminal detention and be furthermore subject to a fine from 20,000 to 200,000 yuan. If the amount involved 
is exceptionally large, the offender shall be sentenced to imprisonment for three to seven years and be furthermore subject to a 
fine from 50,000 to 500,000 yuan. If the amount involved is exceptionally huge, the offender shall be subject to imprisonment for 
more than seven years and his property shall be confiscated. 
Anyone who counterfeits or makes without authorization invoices of a type other than that covered in the preceding paragraph, or who 
sells invoices such counterfeited or made without authorization shall be punished by applying mutatis mutandis the provisions in 
Article 124  of the Criminal Law. 
Anyone who illegally sells any other kind of invoice that can be used for the purpose of obtaining fraudulent tax refunds on exported 
items or tax deductions shall be punished according to the provisions in Paragraph 1 of this article. 
Anyone who illegally sells any other kind of invoice other than that covered in the preceding paragraph shall be punished by applying 
mutatis mutandis the provisions in Article 124  of the Criminal Law. 
7.  
Anyone who steals a value-added tax invoice or any other kind of invoice shall be punished according to the relevant provisions of 
the Criminal Law regarding larceny. 
Anyone who obtains a value-added tax invoice or any other kind of invoice through deceptive means shall be punished according to the 
relevant provisions of the Criminal Law regarding fraud. 
8.  
Any staff member of the tax administration or other state administration who falls into any one of the following categories shall 
be heavily punished in accordance with the relevant provisions in this Decision: 
 (1) 
Colluding with criminals in commission of crimes covered in this Decision; 
 (2) 
Granting a tax refund or deduction with full knowledge that the invoice in question was falsely filled out; or 
 (3) 
Providing any other assistance to the criminal with full knowledge that the criminal is engaged in criminal activity covered in this 
Decision. 
9.  
Any staff member of the tax administration who, in violation of laws and administrative regulations, is negligent of his duties in 
selling invoices, or in granting tax refunds on exported items or tax deduction, and thereby seriously harms the interests of the 
state shall be subject to imprisonment for up to five years or criminal detention, or, if the state incurs extraordinarily great 
losses, be subject to imprisonment for more than five years. 
10.  
Any unit which commits crimes covered in Article 1 , Article 2 , Article 3 , Article 4 , Article 5 , Article 6 , or Paragraph 2 of 
Article 7  shall be punished by fining. The person in charge and other persons directly responsible for the criminal activity shall 
be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the respective provisions of these articles. 
11.  
Anyone who commits a light offense as stipulated in Article 2 , Article 3 , Paragraph 1 of Article 4 , or Article 5  which does not 
constitute a crime shall be brought under administrative detention by the public security organ for up to 15 days and be subject 
to an administrative fine of up to 5000 yuan. 
12.  
Tax payments recovered from criminals who have obtained illegal tax deductions or rebates in violation of this Decision shall be turned 
over to the State Treasury; other gains illegally obtained or properties used in the commission of crimes shall all be confiscated. 
The invoices and counterfeit invoice used by criminals in violation of this Decision shall all be confiscated. 
13.  
This Decision shall enter into force as of the date of Promulgation. 
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